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Monday, 30 September 2013

LEGO Technic Grand Prix Racer

As mentioned before, me, hubby and our siblings used to grow up with LEGO. We have stopped playing for a while until Abby started showing interest (and potential!) at 2. We have been buying her the odd play sets here and there, and we always find ourselves taking over helping out too much with the constructions, while we should have helped her only when she needed us. It's just too hard to resist!

I thought that I knew a lot about LEGO, until recently when I spotted the latest LEGO Mindstorms' press release. It's basically an AI robot! Can you imagine a proper robot made from LEGO bricks that can also be programmed into doing all sorts of things?! Just the sound of it was impressive enough! We checked with the lovely PR whether we can borrow the Mindstorms to try and see for ourselves what this awesome "toy" does, but since it wasn't available yet, she has offered hubby something else to try and review that impressed us so much, we are officially looking at LEGO differently. We were sent the new LEGO Technic Grand Prix Racer (42000).

To be honest, we weren't expecting the Racer to be this big! It was a big surprise for us to see a big box full of LEGO parts, and 3 big manuals too! I thought that at least one of them was for building the Racer Truck version (which can be downloaded on LEGO's website), but no, they were all for the Racer! We were so excited about this we couldn't stop giggling like kids on Christmas Day, as it's our biggest LEGO project ever!

As soon as the kids went to sleep (it really isn't something for young children to build), we started working on the Racer. Hubby took manual 1 and I took manual 2. This was when I really appreciated them splitting the manual up, so that we can have fun together! But even the two of us building the Racer together, it took me about 3 hours (while watching TV at the same time hehe) just to build one of the suspension (top left picture, part on the right), and 3 hours for hubby to build the part on the left. Then of course, it took us longer as I poured everything out into the box so we spent more time searching for the right part than putting them together (it was fun though!).

Hubby then spent about another 4 hours on another night and an hour in the next morning to finish off the whole Racer. The size of the Racer was shocking! It was double the size I was expecting, and it is awesome! The thing is, the Grand Prix Racer was built brick by brick, where plenty of the parts measures only about 1 centimetre wide, and together they have been built into a Racing car that looked almost identical as a remote controlled ready built car. That's already very impressive isn't it? Well, the fact that each part of the Racer has a purpose as well, is exactly the reason why LEGO stands out from all their competitors!

Yes. Unlike most of the LEGO play sets, the Technic range really shows off what LEGO bricks can do with careful engineering. Take the front wheels and suspension part I built as an example. The connection parts between the wheels not only connect the wheels together and make them turn to the same direction (which is later controlled by the steering wheel part), the springs attached turn the connectors into a functionable suspension that bounces back when pressed.

Also, near the right back wheel is a yellow L shape switch, which controls the switch next to it that can raise and lower the engine cover (when the L shape switch is turned towards the engine cover) or turn the spoiler (when the L shape switch is turned towards the spoiler). The engine itself looks like something out from the movie Aliens! Apart from it looking like an engine, it shows exactly how a real engine works as well by creating the same pistons movements inside the engine. Hubby said that, although he already know how a car works (he works in the industry), the Racer has showed him physically how everything applies and it's been an eye opening experience!

The Grand Prix Racer project does not end here, however! Apart from turning it into a Race Truck (which looks equally amazing!), you can also attach a LEGO Power Functions Motor Set (8293) to motorise the Racer too to make it go zoom!

I think that the new Technic range is perfect for the bigger kids (teens and adults alike) who loves a construction challenge. The Grand Prix Racer is available now in shops and is rrp at £79.99 that comes with hours of building fun!

Disclosure: We were sent a construction set to review; all opinions are honest and our own